3523 \^ 

62 G5 
12 ! 

py 1 

«i.ORY 
OF 



THE 
MORNING 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



M 



WISCONSIN DRAMATIC SOCIETY 

MADISON 



0' 

Glory of the Morning 



A PLAY IN ONE ACT 



BY 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



WISCONSIN DRAMATIC SOCIETY 

MADISON 
1912 



Copyright 1912 

By WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 

All Rights Re»erve<l 



©CID 2899S 



To 

THOMAS H. DICKINSON 



THE WISCONSIN SERIES of translated 
and original plays published by the WIS- 
CONSIN DRAMATIC SOCIETY at 
Madison, under the general editorship of 
Thomas H. Dickinson. 



THE PEOPLE OF THE STORY 



Glory of the Morning, The Chevalier's Winnebago 
squaw 

The Chevalier, called the Half Moon, a nobleman, 
now an adventurer in the French fur- trade 

Red Wing, a boy ] 

[■ Their children 
Oak Leaf, a girl ) 

Black Wolf, a visionary old medicine-man, not with- 
out some homely wisdom 



GLORY OF THE MORNING. 

{An Autumn afternoon long ago. ) 

(To the left a wigwam. A disused cradle-hoard. 
A water jar. A wooden mortar and pestle. A 
little to the rear and to the right, two sticks with 
upright forks supporting a cross-bar, from 
which hangs a copper kettle. To the farthest 
right a canoe with paddles, drawn up from the 
shore of the inland lake beyond. An oak tree, 
with its fallen leaves of red and brown strewn 
about. One or two boulders. Farther to the 
rear away from the lake-side, glimpses of the 
rest of the Indian village. After a moment 
GLORY OF THE MORNING, a comely In- 
dian woman of thirty, emerging from the wig- 
wam, looks expectantly out over the water, and 
then, seating herself on the ground, continues 
sewing beads on a buckskin shirt, with a glance 
now and then far away. After another moment 
or two, RED WING, her twelve year old boy, 
comes running in from behind the wigwam, 
with bow and quiver and a quarry of squirrels.) 

7 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



RED WING: ( Throwing down the squirrels. ) 
Count them, mother. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: (Handling.) One, 
two, three, four, five, six. Papoose will lead 
the buffalo hunt. 

RED WING: That's more squirrels than any 
of the other boys got. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: The Other boys 
will elect Red Wing little Chief. 

RED wing: I made Round Turtle, and Blue 
Snake, and Crow Tongue go with me; and 
Rainspot too. And Rainspot hit only one, -— 
and he's three winters taller than I am. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: This autumn, out 
gathering sassafras below Acorn Hill, I have 
seen many squirrels' nests in the bare tree- 
tops. 

RED WING: But today we were not on Acorn 
Hill. We were other side Wild Rice Cove 
(pointing to the left and rear) in the woods 
beyond the Big Eagle Mound. And one squir- 
rel sitting on a boulder .... 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Beyond the Big 
Eagle ... the Thunderbird! Black Wolf will 
scold you. 

RED wing: Black Wolf will give me a new 
bow. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Black Wolf will 
be angry. 

8 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



RED wing: Queer old Black Wolf! Forever 
standing on the Thunderbird and talking to 
the sunset. Wails like a wolf. Halloos like a 
screech owl. But he's forgotten how to shoot. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: (Continuing with 
her bead work. ) You laugh too often at the 
Black Wolf. You must not. He sees visions. 
He speaks to the Manitou. He is wise. He 
knows what was and what is to be. 

RED wing: But Black Wolf won't find out 
where I got them, if Rainspot or somebody 
doesn't tell him. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: I don't know. He 
is wise. 

RED WING: He can't shoot, but he can tell 
stories. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: I know you Hke 
him. 

RED wing: I like his stories. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: He told your 
mother a new story this morning. 

RED wing: I am listening, mother. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: But perhaps Fm 
not going to tell it. 

RED wing: Then I'll ask Black Wolf. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: It will make your 
eyes big. 

RED WING: Is it about the Chippewa? 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: No. 

9 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



RED wing: He has found out who stole the 
war-club of Grandfather Big Canoe! 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: No. 

RED WING: It is about you, 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: It is a story I 
have long waited to hear. 

RED wing: There he goes —there he comes 
again! 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Who? 

RED wing: The lame rabbit that got out 
of my trap yesterday. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: You must listen. 
It's a very short story. 

RED wing: Tell it then, quick. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Red Wing, Black 
Wolf's new story says that your father comes 
back today from the Frenchman's town by 
the Big River. 

RED wing: The Half Moon comes back? 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: He comes back. 

RED WING: That's not like the stories Black 
Wolf tells me. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Are you not glad? 

RED wing: Yes. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: The Half Moon 
will be proud of his son and the squirrels. He 
will put his hand on your shoulder. He will 
pay you six iron arrow-heads for the skins. 

RED WING: Iron arrow-heads. Six iron 

10 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



arrow-heads. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Yes. 

RED WING: Mother, I don't like the iron 
arrow-heads that father always brings back 
to the village. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Many of the young 
braves like them. They don't break or nick. 
They are strong and sharp. 

RED WING: But the Winnebago didn't make 
them. They are not real arrow-heads. They 
didn't grow from the rocks in the Yellow 
Ridge. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Where did you 
learn those thoughts? 

RED WING: I am a Winnebago. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: You are talking 
like Grandfather Big Canoe. 

RED WING: Besides they are bad medicine. 
They are to blame for the blackbirds eating 
up the wild rice this summer. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: And now you talk 
like Black Wolf. 

RED WING: Nobody shall bind father's ar- 
row-heads into the ends of the shafts in my 
quiver, mother. I will kill squirrels and deer 
and buffalo with these points of flint. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Where did you 
get them? 

redwing: Grandfather Big Canoe taught 

11 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



me how to chip them with the bone flaker. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Your Grandfather 
Big Canoe has taught you many things, 
hasn't he. 

RED wing: More than the Half Moon. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Your father is 
busier than Grandfather Big Canoe, and must 
go to the white man's land. 

REDWING: Mother, Black Wolf says father 
is a squaw-man. What is ... . 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: See, Red Wing, 
the Half Moon's new buckskin shirt is almost 
done. He will put it on this very day and 
you will clap your hands. 

RED wing: What is a squaw-man? 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Papoose, won't 
you be glad to see your father again after 
these long, long months at the Big River? 

RED wing: Where is the Big River? 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: {Pointing out into 
the lake.) Far away beyond the Four Lakes, 
beyond the Nippising and the rapids of the 
Ottawa, far away beyond the Hunting-grounds 
and the forests of the Huron, nearly to the 
Big Sea Water and the Morning Star. It is 
very far away. 

RED WING: I wish father would stay home 
and fight the Chippewa. 

12 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



GLORY OF THE MORNING: The Half Moon 
has to visit his friends and sell his skins. 
(Cheerily.) But today he ... . 

RED wing: (Heedlessly.) What is a squaw- 
man? 

(Enter from the side toward the lake OAK 
LEAF, the thirteen year old daughter, followed 
by BLACK WOLF, ivho carries a calumet on 
which he has been binding the sacred eagle- 
feathers, dyed in yellow and scarlet.) 

OAK leaf: Mother, mother, mother! 

GLORY OF the MORNING: Well, Oak Leaf. 

OAK leaf: I know something! 

GLORY OF the MORNING: YeS. 

OAK leaf: Black Wolf had a dream last 
night. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Indeed. 

OAK LEAF: Father is coming home before 
the stars. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Silly child, I know, 

OAK LEAF: do you know too! 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Surely. Don't you 
suppose Fve had Black Wolf for a friend ever 
so much longer than you have? He whispers 
me many of his secrets. He told me two 
hours ago that the Half Moon was coming 
home. 

OAK leaf: And will he bring me presents? 

GLORY OF the MORNING: YeS. 

13 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



OAK leaf: the red cloth he promised 
me! 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Yes. 

OAK leaf: And the blue beads and the 
little shining bangles! 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: YeS. 

OAK LEAF: On a golden cord, mother! 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: You want to See 
him almost as much as your mother does. 

OAK LEAF: more, mother Glory of the 
Morning! And I know he wants to see Oak 
Leaf. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: More too than he 
wants to see Glory of the Morning? 

OAK LEAF: How should I know! 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Oak Leaf, when 
the father loves the daughter, the mother is 
made glad. 

OAK LEAF: But mother, won^tthe maidens 
be jealous at the next Dance-of-the-Virgins — 
and sorry for their buckskin skirts and their 
snail shell necklaces! how fine Fll be! 

RED WING: The maidens won't hke you. 

OAK LEAF: But won't the braves come 
staring round the lodge, Red Wing! Look at 
me. Black Wolf. Am I not the pretty one, 
Half Moon's lovely daughter! (Pretending.) 
No, not too near, old medicine-man! 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: But Oak Leaf, 

14 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



have you anything for him? Red Wing's just 
brought home six squirrels. 

OAK LEAF: {Jumping down on her knees.) 
the plump little puppies! I will dress them 
for the feast of his coming home. {Teasing.) 
Black Wolf will help. 

BLACK wolf: ( With dignity. ) Oak Leaf, 
Black Wolf is not a squaw. 

OAK leaf: {Mocking.) Black Wolf, Oak 
Leaf is not a medicine-man. 

BLACK wolf: Black Wolf will never do a 
squaw's work. You like too well to play the 
white woman when you are happy. 
r OAK leaf: Old Moose! Any way come and 
sit down by me. 

{BLACK WOLF seats himself on a boulder 
near OAK LEAF and is busy with arranging 
the feathers on the bowl of his calumet. RED 
WING lies down a little nearer GLORY OF 
THE MORNING, sprawled at full length with 
his head in palm and his elbow on the ground. ) 

BLACK wolf: Oak Leaf, the young braves 
will not come to sing before the wigwam if 
you treat them as you treat Black Wolf. 

RED wing: Sister Oak Leaf, you are going 
to marry Rainspot. 

OAK leaf: Yes. 

RED wing: When? 

OAK LEAF: When the pines turn yellow and 

15 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



the sumach-berries white and the wild rice 
grows in the moon. (Disdainfully.) Rainspot! 

(GLORY OF THE MORNING walks to-- 
ward the water.) 

RED wing: Rainspot hurled the ice-arrow 
on the lake farther than I could last year. 
But ril beat him this winter. 

OAK leaf: Rainspot!— ril tell you who Fll 
marry. 

RED wing: Who? 

OAK leaf: I will marry Pierre, the trader. 

RED WING: He doesn't want you. 

OAK leaf: Yes he does. Whenever he 
comes over to the village from the Panther 
Woods after rice and corn and maple sugar, 
he gives me ribbons and says funny things to 
me in the white man's tongue. Father told 
me what they meant once. 

RED wing: The dogs don't like Pierre. 
They snap at his heels as soon as he beaches 
his canoe. I don't like him either. 

oak leaf: But he's a Frenchman, a fur- 
trader, like father. 

: RED wing: Black Wolf, whatfis a squaw- 
man ? Why did mother .... 

glory OF THE morning: (Returning.) Black 
Wolf, I fear your visions sometimes fail. We 
do not see the Half Moon's canoe. I am not 

16 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



SO sure that the Half Moon is coming back 
today. 

OAK leaf: But he is! He is! I had a dream 
too— 0, what did I dream? I dreamed I saw 
him in the white man's coat with the gleam- 
ing buttons, and a long, long knife in a nar- 
row quiver swinging from a belt on his left 
side, like the Frenchman who lived in our 
lodge, at the time of the last Bird Dance. 

RED WING: And used to grin when mother 
Glory of the Morning scolded him for kissing 
you. 

BLACK wolf: Did you dream that ? 

OAK leaf: Yes. 

BLACK wolf: Oak Leaf, I don't like your 
dreams. 

OAK LEAF : Why ? Won ' t father come back ? 

BLACK wolf: The Half Moon comes back 
before the rising stars. Black Wolf knows. 

OAK leaf: I only dream after you, Black 
Wolf —just for fun. 

RED WING:. I know what a squaw man is. 
Grandfather Big Canoe told me. It was last year 
at the falling of the leaves when the braves 
were out on the v/arpath of the Chippev/a. 
Rainspot and Crow Tongue began calling me 
squaw-man's papoose, because Half Moon had 
been way off in the white man's town again 
—through all the months-of-the-green-grow- 

17 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



ing-corn, and hadn't come back yet. 

OAK leaf: What did Grandfather Big 
Canoe say? 

RED wing: Grandfather Big Canoe said: 
*A squaw-man is a Pale Face playing Indian 
for the bear and beaver and buffalo skins he 
can get from the real Indians to send back 
over the Big Sea Water. ' 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Your grand- 
father was cruel. He knows why I married 
the Half Moon. 

OAK LEAF: mother, he married you be- 
cause you were the glory of the morning, and 
as beautiful as Oak Leaf. 

BLACK wolf: He married you because we 
had lost so many of the young men in the 
wars with the Chippewa and thought we 
needed to be friends with the white men. 
Chief Big Canoe exchanged the Wampum 
bead-belts. Red Wing, do you know what 
the three long purple lines across the wampum 
mean? 

RED wing: They mean that the roads are 
open between the two tribes. 

BLACK wolf: Yes, that the roads are open. 
Chief Big Canoe gave the Half Moon his 
daughter that the roads might be open between 
the Indian and the white man. But when I 
speak to him about it today, he bov/s his head. 

18 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



GLORY OF THE MORNING: And comes no 
more to visit the wigwam of his daughter. 

BLACK wolf: But the Half Moon rejoiced 
in the open roads. And a wigwam among 
the Winnebago has filled his pack with the 
wealth of the Indian Hunting-grounds. 

glory of the morning: Black Wolf, you 
are all cruel; you do not understand. The 
men sold me to the Half Moon. The Half 
Moon bought me. Then I worked for the 
Half Moon ; I laid the dead fish in the corn hills 
and planted the seed, and brought the ears 
home for him to eat; from the spring I drew 
the water for him to drink; I shook from the 
bended reeds the grains of the wild rice into 
my canoe for him; for him I pounded the 
buffalo meat and dried it and pressed it and 
laid it away in a skin against the coming of 
the snow; at the lodge I built the fire to v/arm 
him through the winter and sewed him his 
shirts and his moccasins. I gave him children. 
He needed me. But now the Half Moon is 
more needful to Glory of the Morning than 
Glory of the Morning is to the Half Moon. 

BLACK wolf: All the village knows you 
have been a good squaw. 

glory of the morning: Besides Black 
Wolf is a medicine-man. He remembers old 
stories of the animal earthworks of our fore- 

19 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



fathers, and he sees visions. But he cannot 
understand a squaw's heart. And Red Wing 
is still a child. Do you understand a squaw's 
heart, Oak Leaf ? 

OAK leaf: Haven't I one, just like you? 
GLORY OF THE MORNING: {Lifting the girVs 
white hand. ) I wonder .... perhaps. 

RED wing: But mother, Fm not a child. 

BLACK wolf: Black Wolf knew that a 
squaw's heart would beat to hear that the 
Half Moon comes back today. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: That was good. 
{Looking out over the lake.) Where is he? He 
has always come crossing the long arm of the 
lake around Bear Island {pointing) from 
Pierre's block-house in the Panther Woods. 
How many times I have sat here and seen 
him paddhng home at last. The sun is nearly 
set. 

BLACK wolf: You are a woman. You 
care most for your own wigwam. I do under- 
stand. But you do not understand Black 
Wolf. You think you believe his stories and 
visions; but you do not— unless they are about 
the Half Moon or your own wigwam. That 
is the way with the squaws. 

GLOEY OF THE MORNING: Who made me a 
squaw?— The Great Spirit made me a squaw. 

20 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



BLACK WOLF: Ah, what does it matter to 
you? You have forgotten. You have forgotten 
the days of our strength, when a thousand 
braves built the Great Mound of the Eagle, 
the Thunderbird, at the .... 

RED WING: tell us about the thousand 
braves! 

OAK LEAF: (Mockingly playful) Do, wise 
old Black Wolf— and why you are always 
standing out there alone in the dusk. 

BLACK WOLF: (Rising and continuing.) 
The Great Thunderbird at the ancient festival 
in the days when the clan still knew the swift 
Eagle as its father. You have forgotten that. 
His spirit dwelt there for twenty generations 
of warriors. Now that spirit is fled. The 
place is a heap of dead earth. The woods 
hide it. The autumn leaves fall upon it. Every 
spring the melting snow washes it bit by bit 
away. And the woodchucks make their holes 
in it. Again and again I go to call the Eagle 
Spirit back to its old dwelling place. But the 
Great Eagle Mound is dead. The children of 
the Winnebago go thither to hunt the squirrel. 

RED VfiNG: Six fat ones, Black Wolf . How 
. . . how did you know? 

BLACK wolf: {Continuing to GLORY OF 
THE MORNING.) The eyes of the squaws 
cannot look back into the shadows. You all 

21 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



turn towards the east. Toward the road of the 
white men. You like their trinkets—their 
red cloth, their lead spoons, their tinkling 
bangles. (Pointing with the calumet.) You 
boil Indian meat in the copper kettles of the 
white men. (Pointing again with the calumet ) 
You sew the white man's beads on the Indian's 
shirt. 

OAK leaf: (Interrupting,) But the shirt 
that mother makes for father is a white man's 
shirt. 

BLACK wolf: (Continuing.) You destroy 
the hearts of the braves. They do nothing 
but trap the beaver and give the skins away 
for the white man's iron tomahawks. They 
forget the cunning of their fathers. They 
cannot peck the stone with the flint and polish 
to an edge with the sandstone in water, and 
bind with the buck-thongs to the ashen handle, 
like the old men. 

RED WING: Grandfather Big Canoe is going 
to teach me. 

GLORY of the MORNING: Won't the white 
man's tomahawk cleave the skull of the 
Chippewa? 

black wolf: Never, never in the hand of 
the Winnebago. The Great Spirit says every 
people must hold the war- weapon of its own 
handicraft. V/hen it loses its cunning to 

22 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



make, it must lose its power to fight. 

RED WING: But the iron tomahawk is not 
the white man's war- weapon. 

BLACK WOLF: No; he makes it to steal 
with. We have seen the white man's weapon 
—and the Half Moon's magic smoke-tube has 
spoken even here to the wild geese far up in 
the cold blue sky ere the ice was gone from 
the lake. But should it speak at Black Wolf, 
Black Wolf would fall forward on his face, 
and the life would depart out of his eyes for- 
ever. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: You must not Say 
that .... the Half Moon calls Black Wolf 
brother. 

BLACK WOLF: And the young braves drink 
at the feasts no more the maple sap and the 
juice of the wild grape since they have tasted 
the Frenchman's fire-water. 

RED WING: I have tasted the fire-water, 
Black Wolf. It is good for the heart. 

BLACK WOLF: They lay on the spirit-stones 
of the Manitou not now the old offerings of 
goldenrod and sunflower, but the red ribbons 
of the white men in the wind. 

OAK LEAF: I should think the Great Spirit 
would love the bright ribbons more than the 
flowers that fester and wither away. 

23 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



BLACK wolf: They will sometime la^^ there 
the white man's tobacco. But in the council 
the old men v/ill never smoke the white man's 
tobacco in Black Wolf's calumet. (Holding up 
the ceremonial pipe.) 

RED WING: When I am an old man, I will 
never smoke the white man's tobacco in Black 
Wolf's calumet. 

BLACK wolf: I believe you, boy. —And the 
white man's medicine-man has made, like the 
hunter and trader, his paths through the for- 
ests and streams. I met him long ago at 
Montreal, the town by the Big River. He 
wore vdde black robes and a little black hat. 
He stopped. He held his silver medicine 
charm up to my eyes and mumbled his magic 
words and tried to bewitch Black Wolf away 
from the Great Spirit. The Charm was shaped 
like this. (Makes in the air with his calumet 
the sign of the cross,) 

RED WING: Show US again. 

BLACK Vv^olf: Like this. (Puts left hand 
horizontally across stem of calumet held ver- 
tically in right hand.) It is called a cross. 

RED wing: a cross! The white man's 
medicine-man stole the Indian's sign of the 
Earth-Maker! 

BLACK wolf: It was shaped like the In- 
dian sign of the Earth-Maker; but the sign of 

24 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



the Earth-Maker it was not indeed. It was 
the white man's totem. I saw it on the top 
of their Big* Medicine Lodge where the bell 
rings at the sunrise. That is the totem that 
makes the white men strong. 

RED WING: How does it make them strong? 

BLACK wolf: The white men put their 
bearded lips upon it, and the white women 
wear it on the bosoms that nurse the white 
men's children. 

RED WING: What does that do? ^ 

BLACK wolf: Black Wolf is wise in the 
history of his people; the lore of the white 
men he will not learn. But ten summers 
after, it was that medicine-man who came to 
the village and took Half Moon and Glory of 
the Morning and the two little papooses out 
before the lodge and married them over again 
in the white man's way—and he had again 
the white man's totem in his hand. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Black Wolf, the 
Pere La Rou was kind. He played with my 
babies down there on the sand. 

BLACK wolf: Glory of the Morning, three 
years before that, the village danced the 
Dance-of-the-Calumet at your wedding. My- 
self I stood in the midst and pointed with the 
calumet to the four skies. 

25 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



GLORY OF THE MORNING: And I was SO 

happy. I was indeed the glory of the morn- 
ing then. 

OAK leaf: if I had only been there, 
mother! 

black wolf: Good will not come forever 
to the Indian who is married in the white 
man's way. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Black Wolf , yOU 

must not longer remind me of that. My hus- 
band wished it. 

RED wing: Tell me why he wished it. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: I am not ashamed. 
Black Wolf, it was because he loved his chil- 
dren. It brought him no gain, no more skins 
than before. They say the other traders run 
away from their Indian children, because 
Frenchmen think in their hearts that marriage 
in the Indian way does not bind the white 
man, when the white man grows weary. He 
asked me to come before the Pere La Rou. 
A squaw must obey her husband. That is the 
Indian way too. 

black WOLF: Goodwill not come forever 
to the Indian who is married in the white 
man's way. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Black Wolf, how 
strange you are. You have seen not gladly 
the Indian's skins in the Half Moon's pack 

26 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



when he goes forth, nor the white man's 
presents in the Half Moon's pack when he 
returns. But to the Half Moon himself often 
and often you have given your right hand. 
You are good; you told rne he was coming 
back today. 

BLACK WOLF: He is coming back— yet even 
when he shall be gone forever, the young 
braves will still let the white man give new 
names to the hills and the springs and the 
rivers and the trees. (Pause,) Many years 
has Black Wolf seen the autumn haze steal- 
ing nearer and nearer over the old Hunting- 
grounds of our people; many years has Black 
Wolf listened to stories, as he counted the 
falling of the leaves. But the young braves 
and the squaws laugh at my dreams. Last 
night, when the camp-fires were low before 
the hundred lodges, and deep sleep was on 
the dogs, and there \yrs no sound but the 
dropping of the acorns and the splash of the 
waves on the beach, Black Wolf sav/ the Half 
Moon coming back. He has told you. True, 
but then the dream changed. (More solewmly. ) 
It seemed to be af the time of the Evening- 
Star. Over the village hung a huge yellow 
cloud. Shaped like the Great Eagle Mound 
of our people. And a mighty wind blew in 
heaven. And the cloud was driven to the 

27 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



west. And the wings— 

(E^iter THE CHEVALIER from the trail, 
dressed like a trapper with pack and gun, but 
wearing a military jacket and cap. GLORY 
OF THE MORNING sees him first, and 
jumping up with a crij buries her head on his 
shoulder.) 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Half Moon! 

(He gently releases himself and takes her by 
the right hand. She still has the buckskin shirt 
in her left. ) 

THE chevalier: It seems good to see you 
again, Glory of the Morning« 

{The children have jumped up. As he turns 
to embrace them, she stands puzzled, suspicious, 
and hurt, and ivithdraws a little toward RED 
WING.) 

OAK LEAF: father, Black Wolf said you 
would come today. 

THE chevalier: I have come back to Oak 
Leaf today. 

OAK leaf: Fm so glad. 

THE chevalier: f Shaking hands with 
BLACK WOLF.) Greetings Black Wolf. I 
knov/ you've been taking good care of Oak 
Leaf. {Turning to RED WING.) You scamp, 
come here. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: WeVe been 

28 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



watching for your canoe over the water all 
the long afternoon. 

THE chevalier: I took the North Elk 
Trail from Bisonnette's trading-post. Bisson- 
ette sends greetings to you, Black Wolf. He 
wants to be friends with the Black Wolf. 
(Putting forth an arm to snatch RED WING. ) 
Come here, I say. Have you kept the Half 
Moon's wigv\^am stocked with fish and game 
for Oak Leaf? (RED WING avoids his 
father's arm. ) 

glory of the morning: (Pointing to the 
squirrels,) Red Wing has done his morning's 
work. 

the chevalier: You are a mighty hunter. 
The white men will want to send you to shoot 
the buffalo for them along the banks of the 
Wisconsin. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: Why do you come 
thus, Half Moon?— like . . . like a Frenchman. 

the chevalier: this gay shirt! V/hy, 
Fve been putting on the white man^s war 
paint and feathers. (Turning to RED WING. 
And how many squirrels did you get ? 

red wing: (Shortly.) Six, Half Moon. 

the chevalier: Half Moon!— you rascal, 
you have forgotten altogether to be my son. 

GLORY OF- THE morning: The white man^s 
war paint—but the roads are open. There is 

29 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



the white man's peace in the country of the 
Four Lakes. 

THE chevalier: The Four Lakes is not 
the world. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: It is our world. 

THE chevalier: Yes, and I will not jest. 
I thought you would like it. I put it on part- 
ly to celebrate my coming home. 

BLACK wolf: The Half Moon wishes to 
astonish the Indian eyes with the glory of 
the white man. 

THE chevalier: That's it too, Black Wolf. 

BLACK WOLF : Black V/olf is not astonished. 

OAK leaf: mother's afraid of father in 
his new dress. I think it's gorgeous as the 
rising sun. {Counting the buttons.) One, two, 
three, four, five . . . my! give me that one! 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: You say you took 
the North Elk trail . . . you never did before. 

the chevalier: No, never before. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: Next time I will 
take the children and watch from Acorn Hill. 

the chevalier: But indeed I never will 
come by the North Elk Trail again. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: I am glad; you 
know how often Fve waited for you over the 
lake. That is why you let me set up the wig- 
wam off here from the long-houses of the 
village. 

30 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



THE CHEVALIER: But I had business to close 
with Bisonnette. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Half Moon, I too 
wanted to celebrate your home-coming. Put 
on the new buckskin shirt. (She holds it up.) 

THE CHEVALIER: Deft fingers made that 
embroidery. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: The fingers of 
Glory of the Morning. 

THE chevalier: But I can't wear it tonight. 

BLACK wolf: (Almost bitterly.) The Half 
Moon will celebrate his return to the Indian 
country by wearing the white man's coat . . . 
for the roads are open. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: The One night of 
all nights it v/ould please me to see it on you, 
Half Moon. 

the chevalier: Fd like to please you, 
Glory of the Morning . . . indeed I would. 

OAK leaf: Anyway, I like you better in 
the white man's shirt; Red Wing does too. 

red wing: (To OAK LEAF and BLACK 
WOLF.) Yes. The buckskin of the VV"innebago 
is for the shoulders of the Winnebago. 

GLORY of the MORNING: Half Moon, put 
on the buckskin shirt tonight. 

the chevalier: I cannot. The Frenchman 
who travels in the war-dress given him by hi^ 
King dare not put it off till his work is done. 

31 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



GLORY OF THE MORNING: You are making 
a white man's jest. 

IHE chevalier: No. I must paddle over 
to Pierre's block-house, Pierre's little jack- 
knife trading-post, in the Panther Woods 
tonight. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: You have mes- 
sages for Pierre from the white man's town. 

THE CHEVALIER: And business to close and 
a bundle of ribbons and jewels for him. 

OAK leaf: And some for me too. You 
promised. 
THE chevalier: Some for Oak Leaf too. 
OAK LEAF: let me see them now. 

THE CHEVALIER: They are in with Pierre's 
packages. Tomorrow will be time enough. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: We will watch in 
the morning as you paddle back, and pretend 
that you hadn't come today. 

THE CHEVALIER: You need not watch in the 
morning. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: We will watch, 
as today, in the afternoon. 

THE CHEVALIER: You need not watch in 
the afternoon. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: ' Our eyes will fol- 
low the canoe as it comes gliding back on the 
shining path of the rising moon. 

32 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



THE CHEVALIER: It will not come back with 
the rising moon. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Not even with 
the rising moon? 

BLACK wolf: (Significantly.) His canoe 
will not come back with the rising moon, 

THE chevalier: ( With determination, tak- 
ing her hand not unkindly.) Glory of the 
Morning, I fear I shan't paddle back tomor- 
row. 

OAK leaf: But my ribbons and jewels, 
father? 

THE chevalier: You shall have them. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Glory of the Morn- 
ing has learned how to wait. I will watch the 

day after. 
THE chevalier: (Still holding her hand.) 

No — nor the day after. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: (Withdrawing her 
hand.) Then . . . then I must wait in the snow- 
drifts .and the north wind while you are gone 
again to the town by the Big River . . . gone all 
the wild winter. 

THE CHEVALIER: (With a touch of feeling.) 
All winter, Glory of the Morning, and all sum- 
mer. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: All winter and all 
summer— until the autumn leaves fall again. 

33 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



THE chevalier: I think I shall not be back 
when the autumn leaves fall. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: Is . . . is that 

good bye, Half Moon? 

the chevalier: I must take the white 
man's road again, Glory of the Morning. 

BLACK wolf: Take the white man's road 
—the road is open. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: When the Half 
Moon is weary of the prettier squaw among 
the white women in the town by the Big River, 
he will come back to Glory of the Morning. 

THE CHEVALIER: You need not be jealous, 
Glory of the Morning. That is not it. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: I am not jealous. 
I love Half Moon. 

THE CHEVALIER: My life with the tribe of 
the Four Lakes is done. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Done? 

THE chevalier: The barter is over. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: (Quietly.) The old 
wigwam was only a place for barter. 

THE chevalier: And my business in the 
town by the Big River is done too: I shall not 
trade any more skins. 

RED WING: Nor iron tomahawks! 

GLORY OF THE morning: Neither in the 
country of the Four Lakes nor in the town by 
the Big River. 
34 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



THE CHEVALIER: I am going back over the 
Big Sea Water. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: {Half to herself,) 
Over the Big Sea Water is beyond the Morn- 
ing Star. 

THE chevalier: I have liked this wild life. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: You have returned 
singing to the country of the Four Lakes 
many autumns. 

THE chevalier: But one cannot sing for- 
ever. New duties have suddenly come to the 
Chevaher. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: New duties? 

THE CHEVALIER: My father has died. The 
great house where I was born and grew up 
now belongs to me. And there is fighting in 
my country, and I have to lay aside the buck- 
skin shirt for this v/hite man's war-coat. The 
Great King calls me home. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Home . . . home 
beyond the Morning Star. 

BLACK wolf: Where the Great Spirit gave 
lakes and hills to the white race— even as he 
gave these lakes and hills to the Winnebago. 

THE chevalier: {To GLORY OF THE 
MORNING.) Fve grown fond of these lakes 
and hills . . fond of the old wigwam and you. 

glory of the MORNING: You have lived 
here many winters. 

35 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



GLORY OF THE MORNING: M a n y p leasant 
winters; but you need not work for me any 
longer, Glory of the Morning. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: To have the Half 
Moon to work for has been like the sun and 
the air. 

THE chevalier: I fear it was, after all, 
only a piece of me that belonged here. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Itwas enough for 
Glory of the Morning. 

THE chevalier: There is no help for it. 
There is more to a man's life than a woman— 
you must try to understand. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: A squaw cannot 
understand. That's what they both say — 
the man of the Pale Faces and the man of the 
Winnebago. 

OAK leaf: father, you must take Red 
Wing and me with you beyond the Big Sea 
Water. Take mother too, 

THE chevalier: {To oak leaf.) No, Oak 
Leaf, your mother would not be very happy, I 
think, over there in the big stone lodge, the 
Chevalier's chateau, with its high towers and 
its wide rooms and its long halls. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: I would sweep it. 

THE chevalier: (To GLORY OF THE 
MORNING.) But it's longer than the long- 
houses of the Winnebago; taller than the Half 

36 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



Moon's wigwam; wider than Pierre's block- 
house over yonder — too big for Glory of the 
Morning to sweep. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: I WOuld boil the 

buffalo meat, and scour the wooden bowls and 
the lead spoons. 

THE chevalier: Thirty braves will often 
eat in the hall with the Chevalier. And yet 
not one will ever taste the buffalo meat, nor 
ever hold the wooden bowl between his knees 
nor the lead spoon in his hand. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: I V/OUld pull the 

weeds from round the door. 

the^chevalier: But you could not trim 
the shrubs in the parks and scatter the grav- 
el on the garden paths and clean the marble 
basin of the fountain and burnish the brazen 
lamp before the gate. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: You have often 
told me of the fountain and the brazen lamp. 
But some one must plant the corn and gather 
the wild rice. 

THE chevalier: The braves in the coun- 
try of the Great King do not let their wives 
plant the corn— and the wild rice does not 
grow in the country of the Great King. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: I WOuld sew the 

shirt. (Half pleadingly she holds up the buck- 
skin shirt) 

37 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



THE chevalier: But I could not wear it 
either before the braves, or the grand ladies 
or the Great King. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: There would be 
nothing for me to do. 

the chevalier: Nothing. And you would 
not be happy with the grand ladies. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: No. 

THE CHEVALIER: Because they would smile 
at your pretty brown arms and brown neck. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: And the Chevalier 
would not be pleased. 

THE chevalier: Indeed, I would not. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: The woman of 
the Winnebago will never be mocked by the 
squaws in the country of the Great King. 

THE chevalier: You are proud and strong. 
I knew you wouldn't cry like the other 
squaws. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: No. The daughter 
of Big Canoe will not cry. 

THE chevalier: Yet Fve been dreading 
this ,hour. It hurts me too. Glory of the 
Morning. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: But you have 
obeyed the Great King. 

THE CHEVALIER: I have obeyed the Great 
King. 

38 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



BLACK wofl: Black Wolf has known that 
the Half Moon would some day hear voices 
calling from beyond the Big Sea Water. 

RED wing: Bid him take Pierre, the trap- 
per. Let them gather up the iron tomahawks 
from the village and give them back to the 
Great King. 

BLACK wolf: There would come another 
Pierre, and yet another. The Half Moon 
goes, but the winds will blow evermore out 
of the east. 

OAK leaf: Father, father Half Moon, the 
Great King shall not take you away from Oak 
Leaf. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: {To the children.) 
The Great King knows not nor cares that I 
gave him Oak Leaf and Red Wing. 

THE chevalier: He shall know. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: It would matter 
nothing to him. 

THE chevalier: I will tell him that you 
were their mother. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: He would not bid 
you return to your children. 

THE CHEVALIER: No. But he will be good 
to the children. 

OAK leaf: He will send us presents from 
over the Big Sea Water— a scarlet dress for 

39 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



Oak Leaf, a long shining knife with jewels 
for Red Wing. 

THE chevalier: Yes. He will give you 
presents. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: The children will 
not need his presents, Half Moon. 

THE chevalier: Let the children decide 
that, Glory of the Morning. 

red wing: Let the Great King keep his 
long shining knife. 

BLACK wolf: The Great King will send no 
presents. 

THE chevalier: Surely, for the sake of 
Half Moon, his friend, and the father of the 
Half Moon's children. 

BLACK WOLF: The white man gives no 
presents to the Indians, except for the sake 
of gain, and the Great King wants not the 
friendship of the young children of the 
Winnebago. 

the chevalier: You do not know the 
goodness of the Great King. 

BLACK wolf: Half Moon, you go— then, go 
like a man. Talk straight into the Indian's 
eyes. Say good bye to the Indian squaw— 
and the Indian children. Say good bye to 
Black Wolf. Then turn your back on the 
Four Lakes and go like a man. 

40 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



THE chevalier: Brother Black Wolf, go 
like a man? 

BLACK wolf: Yes, and tell no white man's 
lies to ease the Indian heart. 

THE chevalier: I speak the truth. The 
Great King will give presents to the children 
of Glory of the Morning. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: You think that 
you cannot forget Glory of the Morning when 
beyond the Big Sea Water. 

THE chevalier: The children will keep 
me from forgetting. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: The children will 
keep me from forgetting. 

THE CHEVALIER: I shall be glad to think 
so. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: But not even pres- 
ents from the Great King will keep them from 
forgetting the Half Moon. 

THE CHEVALIER: They will not forget him. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Perhaps not .... 
if their mother can open her lips to speak to 
them of him. 

THE chevalier: Glory of the Morning, I 
will take care of the children. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: Take care of the 
children? 

THE chevalier: I will take care of the 

41 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



children. They are both young. They can 
learn. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: They can learn? 

THE chevalier: Oak Leaf is already more 
than half a white girl; and Red Wing is half 
white in blood, if not in manners —ca ira. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: (Beginning to real- 
ize,) No, no. They are mine! 

THE chevalier: (Reaching out his arms 
to take them.) No. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: They are mine, 
they are mine! 

the chevalier: The Great King will give 
them presents. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: No, no! 

THE chevalier: He will lay his hands on 
their heads. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: He shall not, he 
shall not! 

THE chevalier: I have said that I will tell 
him you were their mother. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: I am their mother 
—I am their mother. 

THE chevalier: And he will praise Glory 
of the Morning. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: They are mine, 
they are mine! 

THE chevalier: I have come to take them 
back with me over the Big Sea Water. 

42 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



GLORY OF THE MORNING: {The bucksMu 
shirt falls from her hands as she clasps her 
children.) No, no, no! They are not yours! 
They are mine! The long pains were mine! 
Their food at the breast was mine! Year 
after year while you were away so long, 
long, long, I clothed them, I watched them, I 
taught them to speak the tongue of my peo- 
ple. All that they are is mine, mine, mine! 

THE CHEVALIER: {Drawing OAK LEAF to 
him and holding up her hare arm. ) Is that an 
Indian's skin? Where did that color come 
from? Fm giving you the white man's law. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: {Calmer again.) 
I do not know the white man's law. And I 
do not know how their skin borrowed the 
white man's color. But I know that their 
little bodies came out of my own body— my 
own body. They must be mine, they shall be 
mine, they are mine! 

OAK LEAF: ( Withdrawing toward her mother ^ 
with a dazed look at THE CHEVALIER.) 
father Half Moon! 

THE chevalier: Glory of the Morning, the 
Great Spirit said long before you were born 
that a man has a right to his own children. 
The Great Spirit made woman so that she 
should bring him children. Black Wolf, is it 
not so? 

43 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



BLACK wolf: It is SO. 

THE chevalier: {To GLORY OF THE 
MORNING. ) Black Wolf is the wise man of 
your people. 

BLACK wolf: And knows the Great Spirit 
better than the white men. 

the chevalier: Indeed, I think so. 

BLACK wolf: And the Great Spirit made 
the man so that he should stay with the squaw 
who brought him the children, —except when 
off hunting meat for the wigwam or on the 
warpath for the tribe. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: ( With some spirit 
and dignity. ) The white man Half Moon has 
said that he believes Black Wolf. 

THE chevalier: The white man has not 
come to argue with the Red Skin, but to take 
the white man's children. 

BLACK wolf: {In his role of practical wis- 
dom.) The Half Moon will listen to Black 
Wolf. 

THE chevalier: {With conciliation.) If 
the Black Wolf speaks wisely. 

BLACK wolf: Half Moon, Red Wing and 
Oak Leaf have grown up with the birch tree 
and the wild rose. They have played the 
moccasin game before the wigwam with the 
children of the village. They have caught the 
frogs and the turtles on the rocks in the cove- 

44 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



They have paddled the canoe in the sun 
through the rice stalks and the flag leaves. 
And under the full moon they have heard the 
singing of the whippoorwill. They have 
kissed Glory of the Morning, and listened to 
Black Wolf's stories. 

THE CHEVALIER: I can tell them stories. 

BLACK v^olf: Their roots are deep in the 
black earth of their Winnebago home. They 
have grow^n tall under the rainbow, under the 
warm and gHttering showers of the Winnebago 
skies. And the snows of the Four Lakes 
have made them hardy, and the winds have 
made them free. 

THE CHEVALIER: The day draws toward 
evening Black Wolf. 

BLACK wolf: Neither Oak Leaf nor Red 
Wing is a mere papoose to be snatched from 
the mother's back. 

THE CHEVALIER: The Half Moon shares 
Black Wolf's pride in the Half Moon's children. 

BLACK wolf: {Pointing to the discarded 
cradle-board.) The mother long since loos- 
ened the thongs that bound them to the 
cradle-board, propped against the wigwam. 

THE CHEVALIER: And when she unbound 
the thongs of the cradle-board, they learned 
to run toward their father. 

45 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



BLACK wolf: But invisible thongs may 
now bind them round, which even the Half 
Moon might not break, without rending the 
flesh from their bones and preparing sorrows 
and cares for his head. 

THE chevalier: Let us have done, Black 
Wolf. 

BLACK wolf: Thongs which none could 
break, unless Oak Leaf and Red Wing them- 
selves should first unbind them. (To the 
children.) Will Oak Leaf, will Red Wing un- 
bind the mystic thongs of clan and home? 
Let the children decide. 

the chevalier: Black Wolf is wise. My 
children are babes no longer. They can think 
and speak. 

BLACK wolf: Let them speak. 

the chevalier: They know who has 
brought them good gifts from White Man's 
Land and romped with them on the buffalo 
robe many a winter morning. They know 
who can make them happy. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: YeS, I COuld not 

romp with them all the morning— for the Half 
Moon had to be fed. I could not make them 
many gifts— for the Half Moon had to be 
clothed. 

THE chevalier: Glory of the Morning, 
Fve been good to you — I never beat you, as 

46 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



Big Canoe used to beat your mother— I never 
played with the other squaws in the village, 
like little Turtle or Speckled Snake. And I 
want to part fairly. Black Wolf is right. Let 
the children decide. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: Yes. Let the 
children decide. 

BLACK wolf: Oak Leaf, do you want to 
leave Black Wolf and Glory of the Morning 
to go with Half Moon over the Big Sea Water? 

OAK leaf: (Looking up at her mother.) 
do I, mother ? 

GLORY of the MORNING: I cannot tell. I 
love you, Oak Leaf. 

OAK leaf: ( Withdrawing toward her father.) 
Mother, make father Half Moon take you 
with us too. 

GLORY of the MORNING: The Half Moon 
has told you that he no longer needs Glory of 
the Morning. 

THE chevalier: Oak Leaf you are too 
beautiful to wither and wrinkle here digging 
and grinding and stitching, though the hand- 
somest brave of the Winnebago bought you 
for his squaw. Beyond the Big Sea Water 
you won't have to dig and grind and stitch. 
And sometime a noble brave of my nation will 
come in a blue suit with gold braid to the cha- 
teau and say: 1 love Oak Leaf; will you 

47 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



give Oak Leaf to me?' 

OAK leaf: (Gladly.) And you'll give me 
to him, father! 

THE chevalier: If he promises you all that 
I bid him. 

OAK leaf: You will bid him to do many 
good things for Oak Leaf. 

the chevalier: Yes. To give you fine 
dresses, and necklaces, with festivals and 
dances, and to be always wise and gentle. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: My daughter, 
Black Wolf has told us that good will not 
come forever to the Indian who is married in 
the white man's way. 

THE chevalier: (Petting her hand.) This 
hand, which your father will sometime put 
into the hand of a brave in the country of the 
Great King, is not the hand of an Indian. 
And it is too soft and pretty for the rude 
lands of the wild rice. (Drawing her.) Come, 
child. 

(OAK LEAF leans against her father, with 
a half frightened glance at GLORY OF THE 
MORNING.) 

THE chevalier: You see, Glory of the 
Morning. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: (With restraint) 
I will say good bye to Oak Leaf. 

48 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



BLACK WOLF: Red Wing, are you going with 
your sister and with Half Moon over the Big 
Sea Water? 

RED wing: Sister, are you really going?— 
You are always making believe. 

OAK leaf: father,— tell him. 

THE chevalier: She is going, Red Wing. 

RED WING: There is nothing for rne beyond 
the Big Sea Water. 

THE chevalier: Over there your father is 
a famous chief, and you might wear a sword 
and fight beside the Great King. 

RED wing: I shall not fight beside the 
Great King; and I shall not v/ear the white 
man's sword, 

THE chevalier: {Takes his arm, coax- 
ingly,) Little chief, why not? — why not, my 
son? 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: {Coldly and 
firmly.) Because he is 77t^ son. 

RED WING: {Standing off; to the CHEVA- 
LIER with boyish pride,) Because I am a 
Winnebago. 

THE CHEVALIER: {Almost angry.) You are 
going to come with me. You are my heir. 

BLACK WOLF: {Intercepting, as THE CHE- 
VALIER starts to pull the boy by the arm, ) 
Half Moon, let the boy choose. 

49 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



THE chevalier: Black Wolf, you are wise. 
You have seen what the white men are. 
Make the lad know his own good. What you 
have called the thongs of clan and home will 
but bind him to the dead. His mother's 
people can be nothing to him. 

BLACK WOLF: I know what the white men 
are; I know what the Winnebago have been. 
Red Wing, I will finish the dream I was tell- 
ing as the Half Moon, like a stranger, came 
upon us. It seemed to be at the time of the 
Evening Star. Over the village hung a huge 
yellow cloud. Shaped like the great Eagle 
Mound, the Thunderbird of our people. 
And a mighty wind blew in heaven. And the 
Thunderbird cloud was driven to the west. 
And the wings were torn away. And then 
the head. But the body fell into the sunset. 
The Winnebago will not fish forever in these 
waters . . .but their graves will remain forever 
on the bluffs. Red Wing, will you choose a 
grave with the Indian or with the white man? 

redwing: (Deliberately.) I will not go 
over the Big Sea Water. 

BLACK wolf: Red Wing has chosen, 

the chevalier: [RED WING is near his 
mother. ) You have forgotten your father. 

RED wing : {Advancing. ) You are a squaw- 
man. I am a Winnebago. 

50 



WILLIAM ELLERY LEONARD 



GLORY OF THE MORNING: Will the Chevalier 
eat before he goes? 

RED WING: The Indian's squirrels are for 
the Indian's feast. 

THE CHEVALIER : It grows late. Pierre will 
have something for me over in the Panther 
Woods. {Pause, ) Glory of the Morning, Fm 
not to blame. I can no longer do my work in 
your world; you cannot follow me into mine. 
This has happened thousands of times before 
you were born: it will happen thousands and 
thousands of times after you and I are dead. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: The Chevalier is 
talking in the white man's tongue. 

THE chevalier: {Shaking hands,) Black 
Wolf, good bye; and be kind to the poor 
fooHsh boy.(To GLORY OF THE MORNING.) 
Glory of the Morning, I am giving you this. 
{He unbinds a silver cross from his vest under 
his coat.) This silver cross will protect you 
from harm— I hope so— and will remind you 
of the Half Moon who tried so many times to 
explain our blessed religion to you. Some day 
the boy will have a squaw, and you will show 
the token to your grandchildren. Fere La 
Rou gave it to me only tw^o months ago at 
Montreal —and he asked about you. 

GLORY OF the MORNING: {Taking the cross 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



mechanically,) Pere La Ron , , . I remember 
him. 

BLACK WOLF: {Pointing ivith the cakmiet,) 
Give back to the white man the white man's 
totem. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: (V/ith longing,) 
Let me . . . let me keep it, Black Wolf. 

BLACK v/olf: The white man's totem, shall 
not remain in the village with Black Wolf's 
calumet. 

{GLORY OF THE MORNING returns in 
silence the keepsake to THE CHEVALIER:} 

THE chevalier: Good bye, Glory of the 
Morning. 

{GLORY OF THE MORNING gives hira 
her hand in silence, ) 

Good bye, Red Wing. 

{RED WING turns proudly away.) 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: {Firmly,) Give 
him your hand, my son. 

REDWING: {Obeying.) Goodbye. 

{THE CHEVALIER and OAK LEAF are 
going toward the shore. ) 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: {Stepping after, 
and embracing and kissing the child., ) My little 
girl, my little girl! 

52 



WILLIAM ELLSRY LEONARD 



THE CHEVALIER: Conie! 

{THE CHEVALIER mid OAK LEAF go 
do'wn to the canoe upon the bomlc to the 'right. 
They launch it mid m^e off, ) 

OAK LEAF: (Shoiitifig back from the dis- 
toMce.) Goodbye, Black Wolf! Good bye, 
Red Wing! Good bye, Glory of the Morning! 

(MoUonless mid silent, GLORY OF THE 
MORNING, RED V/ING, a/nd {at a little 
distance) BLACK WOLF stand ivatching the 
canoe gliding atvay toivard the Panther V/oods. 
hi a few moments BLACK V/OLF sits doivn 
in the rear on a boulder by the Oak tree, and 
is busied, again tvith the feathers on his calu- 
wM. Then RED IVING squats on the 
ground beside him. After a moment or so, 
GLORY OF THE MORNING turns, picks up 
quietly the buckskin shirt, goes over toward the 
ivigwam, em.pties ivater from the jar into the 
kettle, amd begins gathering sticks and leoAjes 
and. arranging them under the kettle, RED 
WING jumps up and helps, ) 

BLACK WOLF: Red Wing, you are a man 
now. Building the fire for supper is squaw's 
work. 

{RED WING, half ashamed, goes back and. 
squats a.gain by BLACK WOLF, GLORY 
OF THE MORNING contimies a;rranging the 
fire. ) 

53 



GLORY OF THE MORNING 



RED WING: {After a moment,) Mother 
Glory of the Morning. 

GLORY OF THE MORNING: {On her knees, 
half turning her head.) Yes, Red Wing. 

RED WING: Won't Rainspot be sorry he 
couldn't say good bye to Oak Leat\ 

CURTAIN. 



WAH 1% i9^2 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

■niiiiiii 

015 909 057 7 



^) 



\ 




